By Matt Beale, The Dartmouth Staff
Making $800 a week playing online poker might seem like hitting the jackpot for most people, but it is just business as usual for Andrea Sarchi '07. Despite federal and state laws prohibiting online gambling and efforts to strengthen them, online poker remains popular with Sarchi and many other students on campus.
Online gambling exists in an unusual limbo, illegal in theory but very rarely penalized. Several federal laws such as the Wire Wager Act prohibit online gambling, according to Justice Department spokeswoman Jaclyn Lesch. In response, online gambling companies have moved offshore, effectively avoiding government scrutiny.
Instead of directly paying money to U.S.-based gambling companies, players in the United States typically use an intermediary service such as Neteller.com, a website that can transfer payments between American bank accounts and foreign gambling companies.
Online poker players such as Sarchi, who started playing his freshman year, have continued visiting online poker sites, but recently the Justice Department began informing advertisers who promote online gambling that such actions could be considered aiding and abetting a crime. This tactic has caused many companies to forfeit related profits, Lesch said.
Additionally, several bills in Congress may have more wide-ranging implications for online gambling. Rep. Jim Leach's (R-Iowa) bill, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, would help provide enforcement tools for currently toothless laws that prohibit the use of credit cards or bank accounts to settle wagers.
"This essentially makes it illegal for banks to process the transfers," Leach's spokesman Gregory Wierzynski said.
Wierzynski said that the bill does not target individual players or the gamer of poker itself.
"It simply bans settling wagers," Wierzynski said. "If you want to play poker online, you can do that."
The bill has already passed through the House Financial Services Committee and should pass through the House without any trouble as early as June, according to Wierzynski. If an identical bill sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) passes in the Senate just as soon, the new measures could come into effect within a few months, Wierzynski said.
Gambling of any sort is implicitly against the Dartmouth Community Standards of Conduct, Senior Associate Dean Dan Nelson said. According to Section VI of the standards, "violation of the laws of any jurisdiction" can result in College disciplinary action. According to Nelson, however, the school has never taken action against a student for gambling.
Nelson said that College efforts focus on talking with students about activities that can take up significant amounts of time, such as gambling and computer games, and that counselors talk with students who are concerned that they may have a gambling problem.
He added that the College in no way monitors or controls internet activity. "The College isn't in the business of using its network resources to snoop on people," Nelson said.
If students were to face civil suits or criminal charges as a result of online gambling, Nelson said that the College would provide them with information to contact outside legal representation but would not help directly.
"I've heard from students that have friends who have spent lots of time [gambling], and I've heard from students who have trouble maintaining academic standards, so there's an academic aspect there," Nelson said. "I've also heard of students who have won a fair amount of money and lost a fair amount of money."
Sarchi is not the only successful player on-campus. William Schmidley '08 started playing freshman year and withdrew from school this winter to consider online poker as a career. His biggest one-night haul to date is $13,000, which he made last January in a PokerStars tournament.
Another student, who wished to remain anonymous because of past threats of legal action concerning his online gambling, currently plays six $1000-limit tables simultaneously and won an invitation to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this summer in an online tournament.
"I've always been the type of person who hated going out and doing the status quo thing like minimum wage jobs, so it's working out really great," he said. "I definitely had my problems. It was kind of taking over my life in the summer, it was affecting my life outside of poker, which I don't really like. It's more than just playing cards -- you have to learn how to manage life."
Schmidley, who believes online gambling should be fully legalized and regulated, said that he was aware of efforts to crack down on it but thought they were doomed to failure.
"How did prohibition work out? It's a huge industry. It's something people want to do; it can't be stopped," Schmidley said.
Making $800 a week playing online poker might seem like hitting the jackpot for most people, but it is just business as usual for Andrea Sarchi '07. Despite federal and state laws prohibiting online gambling and efforts to strengthen them, online poker remains popular with Sarchi and many other students on campus.
Online gambling exists in an unusual limbo, illegal in theory but very rarely penalized. Several federal laws such as the Wire Wager Act prohibit online gambling, according to Justice Department spokeswoman Jaclyn Lesch. In response, online gambling companies have moved offshore, effectively avoiding government scrutiny.
Instead of directly paying money to U.S.-based gambling companies, players in the United States typically use an intermediary service such as Neteller.com, a website that can transfer payments between American bank accounts and foreign gambling companies.
Online poker players such as Sarchi, who started playing his freshman year, have continued visiting online poker sites, but recently the Justice Department began informing advertisers who promote online gambling that such actions could be considered aiding and abetting a crime. This tactic has caused many companies to forfeit related profits, Lesch said.
Additionally, several bills in Congress may have more wide-ranging implications for online gambling. Rep. Jim Leach's (R-Iowa) bill, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act, would help provide enforcement tools for currently toothless laws that prohibit the use of credit cards or bank accounts to settle wagers.
"This essentially makes it illegal for banks to process the transfers," Leach's spokesman Gregory Wierzynski said.
Wierzynski said that the bill does not target individual players or the gamer of poker itself.
"It simply bans settling wagers," Wierzynski said. "If you want to play poker online, you can do that."
The bill has already passed through the House Financial Services Committee and should pass through the House without any trouble as early as June, according to Wierzynski. If an identical bill sponsored by Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) passes in the Senate just as soon, the new measures could come into effect within a few months, Wierzynski said.
Gambling of any sort is implicitly against the Dartmouth Community Standards of Conduct, Senior Associate Dean Dan Nelson said. According to Section VI of the standards, "violation of the laws of any jurisdiction" can result in College disciplinary action. According to Nelson, however, the school has never taken action against a student for gambling.
Nelson said that College efforts focus on talking with students about activities that can take up significant amounts of time, such as gambling and computer games, and that counselors talk with students who are concerned that they may have a gambling problem.
He added that the College in no way monitors or controls internet activity. "The College isn't in the business of using its network resources to snoop on people," Nelson said.
If students were to face civil suits or criminal charges as a result of online gambling, Nelson said that the College would provide them with information to contact outside legal representation but would not help directly.
"I've heard from students that have friends who have spent lots of time [gambling], and I've heard from students who have trouble maintaining academic standards, so there's an academic aspect there," Nelson said. "I've also heard of students who have won a fair amount of money and lost a fair amount of money."
Sarchi is not the only successful player on-campus. William Schmidley '08 started playing freshman year and withdrew from school this winter to consider online poker as a career. His biggest one-night haul to date is $13,000, which he made last January in a PokerStars tournament.
Another student, who wished to remain anonymous because of past threats of legal action concerning his online gambling, currently plays six $1000-limit tables simultaneously and won an invitation to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this summer in an online tournament.
"I've always been the type of person who hated going out and doing the status quo thing like minimum wage jobs, so it's working out really great," he said. "I definitely had my problems. It was kind of taking over my life in the summer, it was affecting my life outside of poker, which I don't really like. It's more than just playing cards -- you have to learn how to manage life."
Schmidley, who believes online gambling should be fully legalized and regulated, said that he was aware of efforts to crack down on it but thought they were doomed to failure.
"How did prohibition work out? It's a huge industry. It's something people want to do; it can't be stopped," Schmidley said.